Dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Grindr have made finding romance easier over the past decade. Half of Americans under 30 have used a dating app or website, according to the Pew Research Center, with one in five dabbling with Hinge, which launched in 2012. One in ten currently partnered couples met their partner or spouse on an app or website, according to Pew.
But amid growth that places dating apps front and center in our lives, one of those apps, Hinge, faces a problem.
New analysis finds that the number of complaints lodged against the app through the Better Business Bureau, a consumer advocacy group, per million monthly active users is nearly four times that of Tinder, and eight or more times that of Bumble. And of those complaints, almost 98% are related to unjustified user bans from the app.
Now, a quick caveat: The analysis was put together by a user who was banned from Hinge in November. The user, who declined to give his real name but goes by the Reddit username “u/zffr,” says he was baffled by his ban, saying “I had hardly used the app in 2023.” The user says he tried to appeal the ban through Hinge’s built-in appeals process, but discovered a day later that the appeal had been denied, meaning he was banned for life.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
